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“That song relieved a lot of sort of tension. The song, while dealing witha heavy subject, was quick and simple to write for Taylor, and he said the song was almost therapeutic to produce. He said he only learned of her death months later His friends kept the news from him because they didn’t want to distract him from his big break or make him sad, Taylor told NPR in 2000. When Schnerr died, Taylor was recording his debut album in London. Taylor wrote “Fire and Rain” in 1968 about his experience coping with a drug addiction and the death of his childhood friend, Suzanne Schnerr, who died by suicide. “After I play ‘You’ve Got a Friend,’ tears are streaming down their faces, and then for that 5 minutes and 12 seconds everybody is getting along,” said King. 1 spot on the Billboard 100.ĭuring their Troubadour Reunion Tour in 2010, Taylor and King played the song together, King on the piano and Taylor on the guitar.
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Taylor recorded it and won a Grammy for best pop vocal performance in 1971. “Hearing rendition of it for the first time, it was like oh my God. “It was extraordinary,” Taylor said of King’s generous act of friendship.
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That’s a great, great song,” recalled Taylor.Īt the time, King was recording her own album, but she allowed Taylor to have the first crack at it and he released the song as a single on his own album.
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“As soon as I heard it, I was just like, man, that’s just it. Taylor heard it the next day and knew the tune was going to be a hit.
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King composed “You’ve Got a Friend,” which she said was a song that quickly wrote itself.
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